"Doorway to the Panopticon"


Removing your privacy in a digital age
Scarmig has an amazing piece on RFID passports and the tangle of government databases at Strike the Root.

Several years ago word got round that the US government was going to put an RFID chip into a passport.  Privacy advocates rallied and ranted about the insecurity of the technology, the lack of standards, the foibles of technological advance, and the massive infrastructure expenses required to build a system to support an RFID passport, and pronounced the idea Dead On Arrival.  Congratulations are due to those intrepid folks, because their voices were heard, their concerns noted, and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) returned to the drawing board and has now issued specifications for an RFID-enabled biometric passport that focuses on the technical concerns and addresses them quite handily.  The concept remains intact and is now much stronger for the technical tests it was subjected to, rather than weaker for its violations of human rights principles.  I found myself with the opportunity to dig deep into the issue directly from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, and if you’re interested, I’ll tell you all about it.  

The whole article is worth your time

Here are the questions that I don't believe have been answered.

Why does your government think you are a criminal?

Do you trust your government to keep your data safe and not abuse it?

All the rest is just noise.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Wed - November 29, 2006 at 06:03 AM  Tag


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